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TI: Okay, so today is July 6, 2008, we're in Denver, Colorado, and we're, this is the last day of the Japanese American National Museum's national conference. And in the room we have, on camera, Dana Hoshide, and I'm the interviewer, Tom Ikeda.

TO: Tom, what was your name?

TI: Tom Ikeda.

TO: Ikeda, oh, I see.

TI: And so let me start by asking the question, where and when were you born?

TO: I was born in Gardena, California, date would be October the 14th, 1916.

TI: And what was the name given to you at birth?

TO: Toyoko. Oh, wait a minute. Toyo, T-O-Y-O. Not "ko."

TI: Oh, so it was just Toyo, just Toyo.

TO: Yes.

TI: And last name?

TO: Okumura.

TI: So let me first ask you about your father. Can you tell me where your father was born?

TO: This is back in Japan, it's Miye-ken.

TI: And what was your father's name?

TO: Oh, Seisuke, S-E-I-S-U-K-E.

TI: And do you know what kind of work his family did in Japan?

TO: It was, let me see, my great grandfather, I guess. He contacted Korea, and they were getting abalones from Korea, and they made dried, dried abalone, and exported it to China.

TI: Oh, that's interesting. So he's already, like an international trader. He would get abalone from Korea, they would dry it in Japan, and then he would export it to China for sale.

TO: Uh-huh. But they had to take these divers, Japanese women, from this little village where my folks are from.

TI: And do you know why they didn't, did they sell the abalone in Japan also, or was it always --

TO: Oh, yes, they did, yes.

TI: But they always dried it first?

TO: Yes. Oh, it's delicious.

TI: It sounds really good.

TO: Yeah, like gum, you know, chewing gum. It's very, very good.

TI: Now, do you know why your father left Japan to come to the United States?

TO: Oh, he wanted to be a doctor, so after he graduated from high school in Japan, then he came over. Yeah, this was in 19, I think it's 1907.

TI: And why come to the United States to be a doctor?

TO: Well, he had an uncle, Takeuchis, and so he could help him out.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.